Quickstart: Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL library for Python

APPLIES TO: NoSQL

Get started with the Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL client library for Python to query data in your containers and perform common operations on individual items. Follow these steps to deploy a minimal solution to your environment using the Azure Developer CLI.

API reference documentation | Library source code | Package (PyPI) | Azure Developer CLI

Prerequisites

Setting up

Deploy this project's development container to your environment. Then, use the Azure Developer CLI (azd) to create an Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account and deploy a containerized sample application. The sample application uses the client library to manage, create, read, and query sample data.

1. Open a terminal in the root directory of the project.

2. Authenticate to the Azure Developer CLI using azd auth login. Follow the steps specified by the tool to authenticate to the CLI using your preferred Azure credentials.

   azd auth login
   

3. Use azd init to initialize the project.

   azd init --template cosmos-db-nosql-python-quickstart
   

   Note

   This quickstart uses the azure-samples/cosmos-db-nosql-python-quickstart template GitHub repository. The Azure Developer CLI will automatically clone this project to your machine if it is not already there.

4. During initialization, configure a unique environment name.

   Tip

   The environment name will also be used as the target resource group name. For this quickstart, consider using msdocs-cosmos-db.

5. Deploy the Azure Cosmos DB account using azd up. The Bicep templates also deploy a sample web application.

   azd up
   

6. During the provisioning process, select your subscription and desired location. Wait for the provisioning process to complete. The process can take approximately five minutes.

7. Once the provisioning of your Azure resources is done, a URL to the running web application is included in the output.

   Deploying services (azd deploy)
   
     (✓) Done: Deploying service web
   - Endpoint: <https://[container-app-sub-domain].azurecontainerapps.io>
   
   SUCCESS: Your application was provisioned and deployed to Azure in 5 minutes 0 seconds.
   

8. Use the URL in the console to navigate to your web application in the browser. Observe the output of the running app.

   

Install the client library

The client library is available through the Python Package Index, as the azure-cosmos library.

1. Open a terminal and navigate to the /src folder.

   cd ./src
   

2. If not already installed, install the azure-cosmos package using pip install.

   pip install azure-cosmos
   

3. Also, install the azure-identity package if not already installed.

   pip install azure-identity
   

4. Open and review the src/requirements.txt file to validate that the azure-cosmos and azure-identity entries both exist.

Object model

Name	Description
CosmosClient	This class is the primary client class and is used to manage account-wide metadata or databases.
DatabaseProxy	This class represents a database within the account.
ContainerProxy	This class is primarily used to perform read, update, and delete operations on either the container or the items stored within the container.
PartitionKey	This class represents a logical partition key. This class is required for many common operations and queries.

Code examples

• Authenticate the client
• Get a database
• Get a container
• Create an item
• Get an item
• Query items

The sample code in the template uses a database named cosmicworks and container named products. The products container contains details such as name, category, quantity, a unique identifier, and a sale flag for each product. The container uses the /category property as a logical partition key.

Authenticate the client

Application requests to most Azure services must be authorized. Use the DefaultAzureCredential type as the preferred way to implement a passwordless connection between your applications and Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL. DefaultAzureCredential supports multiple authentication methods and determines which method should be used at runtime.

This sample creates a new instance of the CosmosClient type and authenticates using a DefaultAzureCredential instance.

# <imports>
from azure.cosmos import CosmosClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

# </imports>

import json


def getLastRequestCharge(c):
    return c.client_connection.last_response_headers["x-ms-request-charge"]


def runDemo(endpoint, writeOutput):
    # <create_client>
    credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
    client = CosmosClient(url=endpoint, credential=credential)
    # </create_client>

    # <get_database>
    database = client.get_database_client("cosmicworks")
    # </get_database>

    writeOutput(f"Get database:\t{database.id}")

    # <get_container>
    container = database.get_container_client("products")
    # </get_container>
    writeOutput(f"Get container:\t{container.id}")

    # <create_item>
    new_item = {
        "id": "70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Yamba Surfboard",
        "quantity": 12,
        "sale": False,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    # </create_item>
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput("Request charge:\t" f"{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    new_item = {
        "id": "25a68543-b90c-439d-8332-7ef41e06a0e0",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Kiama Classic Surfboard",
        "quantity": 4,
        "sale": True,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <read_item>
    existing_item = container.read_item(
        item="70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        partition_key="gear-surf-surfboards",
    )
    # </read_item>
    writeOutput(f"Read item id:\t{existing_item['id']}")
    writeOutput(f"Read item:\t{existing_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <query_items>
    queryText = "SELECT * FROM products p WHERE p.category = @category"
    results = container.query_items(
        query=queryText,
        parameters=[
            dict(
                name="@category",
                value="gear-surf-surfboards",
            )
        ],
        enable_cross_partition_query=False,
    )
    # </query_items>
    # <parse_results>
    items = [item for item in results]
    output = json.dumps(items, indent=True)
    # </parse_results>
    writeOutput("Found items:")
    writeOutput(output, isCode=True)

Get a database

Use client.get_database_client to retrieve the existing database named cosmicworks.

# <imports>
from azure.cosmos import CosmosClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

# </imports>

import json


def getLastRequestCharge(c):
    return c.client_connection.last_response_headers["x-ms-request-charge"]


def runDemo(endpoint, writeOutput):
    # <create_client>
    credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
    client = CosmosClient(url=endpoint, credential=credential)
    # </create_client>

    # <get_database>
    database = client.get_database_client("cosmicworks")
    # </get_database>

    writeOutput(f"Get database:\t{database.id}")

    # <get_container>
    container = database.get_container_client("products")
    # </get_container>
    writeOutput(f"Get container:\t{container.id}")

    # <create_item>
    new_item = {
        "id": "70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Yamba Surfboard",
        "quantity": 12,
        "sale": False,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    # </create_item>
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput("Request charge:\t" f"{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    new_item = {
        "id": "25a68543-b90c-439d-8332-7ef41e06a0e0",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Kiama Classic Surfboard",
        "quantity": 4,
        "sale": True,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <read_item>
    existing_item = container.read_item(
        item="70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        partition_key="gear-surf-surfboards",
    )
    # </read_item>
    writeOutput(f"Read item id:\t{existing_item['id']}")
    writeOutput(f"Read item:\t{existing_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <query_items>
    queryText = "SELECT * FROM products p WHERE p.category = @category"
    results = container.query_items(
        query=queryText,
        parameters=[
            dict(
                name="@category",
                value="gear-surf-surfboards",
            )
        ],
        enable_cross_partition_query=False,
    )
    # </query_items>
    # <parse_results>
    items = [item for item in results]
    output = json.dumps(items, indent=True)
    # </parse_results>
    writeOutput("Found items:")
    writeOutput(output, isCode=True)

Get a container

Retrieve the existing products container using database.get_container_client.

# <imports>
from azure.cosmos import CosmosClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

# </imports>

import json


def getLastRequestCharge(c):
    return c.client_connection.last_response_headers["x-ms-request-charge"]


def runDemo(endpoint, writeOutput):
    # <create_client>
    credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
    client = CosmosClient(url=endpoint, credential=credential)
    # </create_client>

    # <get_database>
    database = client.get_database_client("cosmicworks")
    # </get_database>

    writeOutput(f"Get database:\t{database.id}")

    # <get_container>
    container = database.get_container_client("products")
    # </get_container>
    writeOutput(f"Get container:\t{container.id}")

    # <create_item>
    new_item = {
        "id": "70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Yamba Surfboard",
        "quantity": 12,
        "sale": False,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    # </create_item>
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput("Request charge:\t" f"{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    new_item = {
        "id": "25a68543-b90c-439d-8332-7ef41e06a0e0",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Kiama Classic Surfboard",
        "quantity": 4,
        "sale": True,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <read_item>
    existing_item = container.read_item(
        item="70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        partition_key="gear-surf-surfboards",
    )
    # </read_item>
    writeOutput(f"Read item id:\t{existing_item['id']}")
    writeOutput(f"Read item:\t{existing_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <query_items>
    queryText = "SELECT * FROM products p WHERE p.category = @category"
    results = container.query_items(
        query=queryText,
        parameters=[
            dict(
                name="@category",
                value="gear-surf-surfboards",
            )
        ],
        enable_cross_partition_query=False,
    )
    # </query_items>
    # <parse_results>
    items = [item for item in results]
    output = json.dumps(items, indent=True)
    # </parse_results>
    writeOutput("Found items:")
    writeOutput(output, isCode=True)

Create an item

Build a new object with all of the members you want to serialize into JSON. In this example, the type has a unique identifier, and fields for category, name, quantity, price, and sale. Create an item in the container using container.upsert_item. This method "upserts" the item effectively replacing the item if it already exists.

# <imports>
from azure.cosmos import CosmosClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

# </imports>

import json


def getLastRequestCharge(c):
    return c.client_connection.last_response_headers["x-ms-request-charge"]


def runDemo(endpoint, writeOutput):
    # <create_client>
    credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
    client = CosmosClient(url=endpoint, credential=credential)
    # </create_client>

    # <get_database>
    database = client.get_database_client("cosmicworks")
    # </get_database>

    writeOutput(f"Get database:\t{database.id}")

    # <get_container>
    container = database.get_container_client("products")
    # </get_container>
    writeOutput(f"Get container:\t{container.id}")

    # <create_item>
    new_item = {
        "id": "70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Yamba Surfboard",
        "quantity": 12,
        "sale": False,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    # </create_item>
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput("Request charge:\t" f"{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    new_item = {
        "id": "25a68543-b90c-439d-8332-7ef41e06a0e0",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Kiama Classic Surfboard",
        "quantity": 4,
        "sale": True,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <read_item>
    existing_item = container.read_item(
        item="70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        partition_key="gear-surf-surfboards",
    )
    # </read_item>
    writeOutput(f"Read item id:\t{existing_item['id']}")
    writeOutput(f"Read item:\t{existing_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <query_items>
    queryText = "SELECT * FROM products p WHERE p.category = @category"
    results = container.query_items(
        query=queryText,
        parameters=[
            dict(
                name="@category",
                value="gear-surf-surfboards",
            )
        ],
        enable_cross_partition_query=False,
    )
    # </query_items>
    # <parse_results>
    items = [item for item in results]
    output = json.dumps(items, indent=True)
    # </parse_results>
    writeOutput("Found items:")
    writeOutput(output, isCode=True)

Read an item

Perform a point read operation by using both the unique identifier (id) and partition key fields. Use container.read_item to efficiently retrieve the specific item.

# <imports>
from azure.cosmos import CosmosClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

# </imports>

import json


def getLastRequestCharge(c):
    return c.client_connection.last_response_headers["x-ms-request-charge"]


def runDemo(endpoint, writeOutput):
    # <create_client>
    credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
    client = CosmosClient(url=endpoint, credential=credential)
    # </create_client>

    # <get_database>
    database = client.get_database_client("cosmicworks")
    # </get_database>

    writeOutput(f"Get database:\t{database.id}")

    # <get_container>
    container = database.get_container_client("products")
    # </get_container>
    writeOutput(f"Get container:\t{container.id}")

    # <create_item>
    new_item = {
        "id": "70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Yamba Surfboard",
        "quantity": 12,
        "sale": False,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    # </create_item>
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput("Request charge:\t" f"{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    new_item = {
        "id": "25a68543-b90c-439d-8332-7ef41e06a0e0",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Kiama Classic Surfboard",
        "quantity": 4,
        "sale": True,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <read_item>
    existing_item = container.read_item(
        item="70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        partition_key="gear-surf-surfboards",
    )
    # </read_item>
    writeOutput(f"Read item id:\t{existing_item['id']}")
    writeOutput(f"Read item:\t{existing_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <query_items>
    queryText = "SELECT * FROM products p WHERE p.category = @category"
    results = container.query_items(
        query=queryText,
        parameters=[
            dict(
                name="@category",
                value="gear-surf-surfboards",
            )
        ],
        enable_cross_partition_query=False,
    )
    # </query_items>
    # <parse_results>
    items = [item for item in results]
    output = json.dumps(items, indent=True)
    # </parse_results>
    writeOutput("Found items:")
    writeOutput(output, isCode=True)

Query items

Perform a query over multiple items in a container using container.GetItemQueryIterator. Find all items within a specified category using this parameterized query:

SELECT * FROM products p WHERE p.category = @category

# <imports>
from azure.cosmos import CosmosClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

# </imports>

import json


def getLastRequestCharge(c):
    return c.client_connection.last_response_headers["x-ms-request-charge"]


def runDemo(endpoint, writeOutput):
    # <create_client>
    credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
    client = CosmosClient(url=endpoint, credential=credential)
    # </create_client>

    # <get_database>
    database = client.get_database_client("cosmicworks")
    # </get_database>

    writeOutput(f"Get database:\t{database.id}")

    # <get_container>
    container = database.get_container_client("products")
    # </get_container>
    writeOutput(f"Get container:\t{container.id}")

    # <create_item>
    new_item = {
        "id": "70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Yamba Surfboard",
        "quantity": 12,
        "sale": False,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    # </create_item>
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput("Request charge:\t" f"{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    new_item = {
        "id": "25a68543-b90c-439d-8332-7ef41e06a0e0",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Kiama Classic Surfboard",
        "quantity": 4,
        "sale": True,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <read_item>
    existing_item = container.read_item(
        item="70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        partition_key="gear-surf-surfboards",
    )
    # </read_item>
    writeOutput(f"Read item id:\t{existing_item['id']}")
    writeOutput(f"Read item:\t{existing_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <query_items>
    queryText = "SELECT * FROM products p WHERE p.category = @category"
    results = container.query_items(
        query=queryText,
        parameters=[
            dict(
                name="@category",
                value="gear-surf-surfboards",
            )
        ],
        enable_cross_partition_query=False,
    )
    # </query_items>
    # <parse_results>
    items = [item for item in results]
    output = json.dumps(items, indent=True)
    # </parse_results>
    writeOutput("Found items:")
    writeOutput(output, isCode=True)

Loop through the results of the query.

# <imports>
from azure.cosmos import CosmosClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

# </imports>

import json


def getLastRequestCharge(c):
    return c.client_connection.last_response_headers["x-ms-request-charge"]


def runDemo(endpoint, writeOutput):
    # <create_client>
    credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
    client = CosmosClient(url=endpoint, credential=credential)
    # </create_client>

    # <get_database>
    database = client.get_database_client("cosmicworks")
    # </get_database>

    writeOutput(f"Get database:\t{database.id}")

    # <get_container>
    container = database.get_container_client("products")
    # </get_container>
    writeOutput(f"Get container:\t{container.id}")

    # <create_item>
    new_item = {
        "id": "70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Yamba Surfboard",
        "quantity": 12,
        "sale": False,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    # </create_item>
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput("Request charge:\t" f"{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    new_item = {
        "id": "25a68543-b90c-439d-8332-7ef41e06a0e0",
        "category": "gear-surf-surfboards",
        "name": "Kiama Classic Surfboard",
        "quantity": 4,
        "sale": True,
    }
    created_item = container.upsert_item(new_item)
    writeOutput(f"Upserted item:\t{created_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <read_item>
    existing_item = container.read_item(
        item="70b63682-b93a-4c77-aad2-65501347265f",
        partition_key="gear-surf-surfboards",
    )
    # </read_item>
    writeOutput(f"Read item id:\t{existing_item['id']}")
    writeOutput(f"Read item:\t{existing_item}")
    writeOutput(f"Request charge:\t{getLastRequestCharge(container)}")

    # <query_items>
    queryText = "SELECT * FROM products p WHERE p.category = @category"
    results = container.query_items(
        query=queryText,
        parameters=[
            dict(
                name="@category",
                value="gear-surf-surfboards",
            )
        ],
        enable_cross_partition_query=False,
    )
    # </query_items>
    # <parse_results>
    items = [item for item in results]
    output = json.dumps(items, indent=True)
    # </parse_results>
    writeOutput("Found items:")
    writeOutput(output, isCode=True)

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